Causes for Sacroiliac Joint Pain

SI joint pain:

SI joint

The junction of sacrum and Ilium bone is called sacroiliac joint. This joint is very important for the human body as this joint transmits the weight of the body from the vertebral column to the femur. This is mainly a synovial joint of plane variety but it has some fibrous part also. Only the posterior one third of the joint is fibrous. As this joint has a synovial part it can move a bit. This joint has a fibrous articular capsule.

There are two sacroiliac joints in the human body. They are called right and left sacroiliac joint. These two joints are very essential for the formation of boney pelvis. In the modern age sacroiliac joint pain has become a common problem among the middle aged people. There are many causes behind the sacroiliac joint pain. Some of the causes are described below in brief;

Degenerative Causes for Sacroiliac Joint Pain:

This is the most common of all Causes for Sacroiliac Joint Pain. Though the degenerative causes are common among the people of over 45 years but the early adult can also suffer from this problem. In the formation of Sacroiliac Joint two bones take part. They are sacrum and Ilium as mentioned earlier. Both of the bones are covered with a thin layer of cartilage. This cartilage is hyaline in type and it is called the articular cartilage. This cartilage covers the articular surface of the both bones. Degeneration of the cartilage cells of the articular cartilage is very common among the people of over 50 years. Due to decrease in the thickness of the cartilage layer the Sacroiliac Joint pain may arise. Degeneration of the articular cartilage is very common in the East Asian countries. From a statistics of Dhaka Medical College of Bangladesh we can know that almost 15% people (Above 50 years) of Bangladesh are suffering from Sacroiliac Joint pain. And the cause is the degeneration of the cells of the articular cartilage. Continuous heavy weight lifting may also decrease the thickness of the cartilage layer.

Inflammatory disease of the bone tissue or Ostitis:

This is another important cause of Sacroiliac Joint pain. The inflammation of the bone tissue of the sacrum or Ilium may cause pain of the Sacroiliac Joint. The inflammation is mainly caused by the streptococcus bacteria but it can be caused by the viruses also. People of any age can be affected by the inflammatory disease of bone tissue, so ostitis can cause Sacroiliac Joint pain in patient of any age.

If the cause of the Sacroiliac Joint pain is ostitis, there must be high grade fever associated with swelling of the overlying connective tissue of the Sacroiliac Joint.

Arthritis:

Arthritis is also a very common cause of Sacroiliac Joint pain. This is actually the inflammation of the join capsule. In case of arthritis there is severe pain in the Sacroiliac Joint region and the body temperature is above the normal limit. The neutrophill count of the peripheral blood also increases. Some bacteria and viruses cause arthritis. Sometimes it can be caused by the rheumatic fever. In this case the inflammation is caused by the immune complex. The cross reacting antibody is the causative agent of the disease.

Psoriasis is another inflammatory arthritis that can affect the Sacroiliac Joint. This is very bad for the Sacroiliac Joint as it can causes fusion of the bones forming the Sacroiliac Joint. The fusion of the Sacroiliac Joint decreases the degree of movement of the joint.

Pregnancy:

Though pregnancy is a physiological process but it can cause the pain of the Sacroiliac Joint. Pregnancy mainly causes the pain of Sacroiliac Joint after 40 years. So pregnancy after 40 years always increases the risk of development of Sacroiliac Joint pain.

In pregnancy all the ligaments of human body become loose to ease the process of parturition. But this process causes loosening of the fibers of the Sacroiliac Joint. As mentioned earlier Sacroiliac Joint has some fibrous part. So mobility of the joint decreases and pain occurs. Again during pregnancy the body weight also increases. This increases pressure on the Sacroiliac Joint, which leads to development of Sacroiliac Joint pain.

Hormonal and Biochemical causes:

Hormonal imbalance may cause Sacroiliac Joint pain in very early age. Deficiency of parathormone is commonly associated with Sacroiliac Joint in the patients of early adult age.

Parathormone is very essential for the absorption of calcium ion from the gastro intestinal tract. And for the proper formation of the bone matrix calcium ion is a must. Thus deficiency of calcium ion may cause pain not only in the Sacroiliac Joint but also in many other joints of the body.

Traumatic:

Traumatic reasons are also responsible for the pain in the Sacroiliac Joint. Any damage to the bone tissue, cartilage, synovial capsule can cause pain in the Sacroiliac Joint.

After a heavy working day a person can fee Sacroiliac Joint pain. This may be due to the over working of the ligaments associated with the Sacroiliac Joint.

Congenital connective tissue disorder:

Congenital connective tissue disorder can cause pain in the Sacroiliac Joint. In this condition the formation of connective tissue is very low in the patient’s body. Pain is felt in all the fibrous joint of the body. As mentioned earlier posterior one third of the Sacroiliac Joint is fibrous. So connective tissue disorder can cause pain in the Sacroiliac Joint.

Presence of foreign particle in the joint cavity:

Pain in the Sacroiliac Joint can be caused by the presence of any foreign particle in the joint cavity. Actually this is the secondary complication of the traumatic Sacroiliac Joint pain.

Very low physical activity:

Persons with very low physical activity can also suffer from Sacroiliac Joint pain. Because the very little physical work make the fibers of the Sacroiliac Joint rigid. As the fibers become rigid the person feels pain during the movement of the Sacroiliac Joint. Decrease in the flexibility of the fibers of the Sacroiliac Joint decreases the mobility of the joint.